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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Theorizing Of Terrorism Within Criminology, Daren Fisher, Erin M. Kearns
The Theorizing Of Terrorism Within Criminology, Daren Fisher, Erin M. Kearns
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Objectives. While terrorism studies were once castigated as atheoretical and unempirical, criminology has been well suited to apply theories of crime to terrorism and to then test those theories with rigorous methods and robust data. The present study takes stock of how criminologists have theorized about terrorism and tested those theories over time in 13 of the discipline’s leading journals. Methods. The study systematically examines theoretical framing, hypotheses, methodological approach, focus within criminology and criminal justice, and policy recommendations in terrorism-focused articles. Results. While terrorism has become more central within top journals, sparse attention has been paid to many criminological …
How Perpetrator Identity (Sometimes) Influences Media Framing Attacks As “Terrorism” Or “Mental Illness”, Allison E. Betus, Erin M. Kearns, Anthony F. Lemieux
How Perpetrator Identity (Sometimes) Influences Media Framing Attacks As “Terrorism” Or “Mental Illness”, Allison E. Betus, Erin M. Kearns, Anthony F. Lemieux
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Do media frame attacks with Muslim perpetrators as “terrorism” and attacks with White perpetrators as the result of “mental illness”? Despite public speculation and limited academic work with relatively small subsets of cases, there have been no systematic analyses of potential biases in how media frame terrorism. We addressed this gap by examining the text of print news coverage of all terrorist attacks in the United States between 2006 and 2015. Controlling for fatalities, affiliation with a group, and existing mental illness, the odds that an article references terrorism are approximately five times greater for a Muslim versus a non-Muslim …
When To Take Credit For Terrorism? A Cross-National Examination Of Claims And Attributions, Erin M. Kearns
When To Take Credit For Terrorism? A Cross-National Examination Of Claims And Attributions, Erin M. Kearns
Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications
Rationalist research expects that groups claim credit for terrorism. Yet, the vast majority of attacks are not claimed. Of the unclaimed attacks, about half are attributed to a specific group. What factors impact claiming decisions? While extant literature largely treats claiming as binary—either claimed or not—the present study disaggregates claiming decisions further to also consider attacks with attributions of credit but no claim, using data from 160 countries between 1998 and 2016. Both attack-level and situational factors impact claiming decisions. Disaggregating claiming behavior shows meaningful differences. Specifically, competitive environments and suicide attacks increase claims but not attributions. Higher fatalities in …
Breaking The Criminogenic Code: A Frame Analysis Of Neo-Nazi And Violent Jihadi Propaganda, William Travis Morris
Breaking The Criminogenic Code: A Frame Analysis Of Neo-Nazi And Violent Jihadi Propaganda, William Travis Morris
Student Work
This dissertation focuses on neo-Nazi and violent jihadi propaganda and its role in defining social boundaries. Frame analysis was used to gain a deeper understanding of how neo-Nazis and violent jihadis construct propaganda to neutralize objections and promote drift. Specifically, diagnostic and prognostic frames were analyzed for 10 "effective" propagandists and two "ineffective" propagandists in a comparative framework. This research uses a social psychological perspective, paying particular attention to the emotion of shame and advances the "violence as communication" model into "terrorism as criminogenic propaganda." Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to analyze how neo-Nazi and violent jihadi propagandists incorporate …
The Tipping Point To Terrorism: Involvement In Right-Wing Terrorist Groups In The United States, Anne M. Stacey Reeser
The Tipping Point To Terrorism: Involvement In Right-Wing Terrorist Groups In The United States, Anne M. Stacey Reeser
Student Work
This dissertation focuses on right-wing terrorism (RWT) in the United States perpetrated by adherents to the White Supremacist Movement (WSM). In depth case history data were collected using a variety of sources and analyzed on 66 federally indicted WSM terrorists representing 10 different terrorist organizations in the United States from 1980-2002. The primary means of analysis was a qualitative case analysis using narrative data to uncover what influences an individual to become involved in a terrorist group. Specifically, I analyzed the influences of: 1) structural components, 2) family dynamics, and 3) non-familial relationships on the involvement process. Results from this …